Customer Reviews

Leonard Cohen Poems 1956 - 1968

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This volume contains selections from Let Us Compare Mythologies, The Spice-Box of Earth, Flowers for Hitler & Parasites of Heaven, concluding with New Poems. Suzanne is here called Suzanne Takes You Down, and there's an embryonic version of True Love Leaves No Traces, a beautiful song from his much maligned album Death of a Ladies' Man, called As The Mist Leaves No Scar (I also love the breezy pop version by Dead Famous People on the tribute album I'm Your Fan).

The poem The Only Tourist In Havana Turns His Thoughts Homeward (1961) reminds me of his song Stories of the Street on the album Songs of Leonard Cohen that also deals with a visit to Havana. Queen Victoria And Me appears on the album Live Songs as just Queen Victoria. The poem It's Good To Sit With People mentions the obscure 1960's singer-songwriter Tim Hardin (the same dude or a relative inspired Dylan's album title John Wesley Harding).

I won't venture into literary criticism (my frame of reference is limited to Beats like Allen Ginsburg and Confessionals like Robert Lowell, John Berryman and Anne Sexton) but I love Cohen's imagery and I enjoy most of these poems. The book concludes with an index of first lines. This is a must for all Cohen fans. It's just not the same without the tunes, his voice and those angelic female vocals ...